Boeing it is said took a big gamble in predicting the future of air travel. Instead of going bigger like Airbus and building an aircraft like the A380, the biggest airliner ever built; The Boeing Company decided to go for a more efficient smaller aircraft with better materials and better range. It worked and sales are really going strong for Boeing. The economists in the commercial aviation business were watching the trends and they agreed. So what is the future of passenger air travel; Airborne Taxi? Point to point, Scrub the spoke and wheel? Is it real or more PR for hopes of revitalizing the aviation sector in the United States? Does it matter, the new deal is point to point which we have seen coming for about five years now. Actually ten if you look at the pre-sort of P-1 and P-2 freight at the Fed Ex Terminals. Pre-sort before it goes to the hub in Memphis means less cost and more profitable flights. It seems now this newest theory is being used everywhere again. Even in container shipments are being moved this way; http://www.worldbank.org/afr/findings/english/find116.htm If you can cut out the middleman by way of computerized logistics you can see the benefit. It appears that the computer industry has something to do with organizational theory of the flow of transportation as well: http://www.corrigent.com/technology/packet_adm/shared_transport.htm There has been much talk about this and those airlines with smaller hubs or multi-hubs and most like point to point did best in the recession and during the 9-11 downturn. The winners in the airline sector used point to point strategies to stay ahead of their competitors; Jet Blue and South West Airlines among the best examples of this. Now Air Taxi business is coming into play as an extension of the fractional jet market. After 9-11 we saw a big boost in chartered aircraft for top executives as the lines and hassles created by the TSA were unnerving to say the least. More executives and wealthy families traveling this way provided greater volume and economies of scale and thus spurred on the market when other commercial aviation sectors were hit hard by 9-11. The trend is continuing and we are seeing a whole new wave and revival in commercial aviation. Think on this. |
